Equal Opportunity or Devolution?

( October 27,
2012, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) Many writers have registered their
thinking on the 13thAmendment
to Sri Lanka’s Constitution. The way I have registered the relevance of the 13thAmendment is that it is important in
relation to recognizing and satisfying the need for self governance through the
establishment of Provincial Councils. The alternative to my mind is Equal Opportunity Laws that
would help us merge with global participants.

In his article
‘Where can we take the 13th Amendment?’Victor Cherubim says– ‘The clarion call of the people
heard even as far away as England is that they are not happy with the working
of the 13thamendment.’

Mr. Victor Cherubim however does not demonstrate his
identification with the
current needs of Sri Lanka – taking into account the pain and loss by all Sri
Lankans. Every genuine expression on behalf of the needy would go towards real
solution.

In turn, in
his article‘Gotabhaya’s Talk
about Abolishing the 13th Amendment!Professor Laksiri
Fernando who is well respected in intellectual circles says ‘Devolution and the 13th
Amendment are the ‘trophies’ that the government has been showing the
international community and the UN as indications of Sri Lanka’s commitment to
resolve the ethnic question in the country. Backtracking on them would
undoubtedly spell disaster for the country in the international sphere. ……………the
abolition of the 13thAmendment
is completely against the recommendations and spirit of the LLRC Report’

It is stated
about Professor Laksiri Fernando ‘He was also the Executive Director of the Diplomacy
Training Program (DTP) at the University
of New South Wales during 1995-97 after Jose Ramos-Horta
of East Timor.’

TheRacial Discrimination Act 1975is also Australia’s ‘trophy’ at the
international level – to confirm the Australian Government’s victory over
‘white Australia policy’. University Administration sent their security
officers followed by armed Police Officers to have me arrested (unlawfully as per
my reading of the legislation used). The legal officer of the University was
nowhere to be seen during the arrests. My experience with the Courts confirmed
to me that the officers concerned were clueless about the issue over which I
sought to see the Vice Chancellor -
through Due Process and they were also clueless about the relevant provisions
of the legislation in whose name they arrested me. Hence when it comes to
taking sides – Australian Police would naturally be on the side of Sri Lankan
armed forces. Likewise their respective governments. Neither would give
preference to the law over their own subjective powers. Neither would place the interest
of the citizen before their own. Given the accolades carried by Professor
Laksiri Fernando, it is important that he studies the reality of Australian Universities with
devolved powers in relation to practice
of the law.

My own need to
see the Vice Chancellor was due to the persecution I was experiencing after I
did my duty as per my
assessment of my position requirements – to democratize the financial
management system. As is the usual pattern in Australia, I was running too fast
for the liking of the oldies. I went as far as I could – without acting in
breach of any law as interpreted by me genuinely. Until I know otherwise, I am
entitled to interpret laws and policies as per my genuine investment in that
law in particular and in the laws of my environment in general. Likewise, the other side – and given that
they held higher positions – in the eyes of
the police and judges – I
was punished. The real
judgment was delivered through foreign students with weak investment in
Australian law. Even
if there is one genuine participant – Natural Justice becomes active. Then God
is the Judge and genuine participants would identify with that real judgment. To me it was no coincidence that
I was fighting for Equal
Opportunity principles whilst Heads of Faculties were fighting for
Devolution. University
Central Administrators who have failed to be accountable to their higher
Central / parent authority – the Government – would naturally fear devolution
to lower levels. They fear that the devolved units would do to them what they
had done to their parent unit. To my mind this is also the case with the Sri
Lankan Government.

It would
be unfair to expect Sri Lankan institutions with lower status than Australian
Universities to follow the law more sincerely and with greater commitment to
show ‘justice’. In real
terms they may be more just
than Australians. But showing that real value is not easy for a minority power.
Every Sri Lankan who consciously and/or subconsciously takes on the authority
of a high status nation –
such as Australia - without
studying that country’s own records in parallel issues – is being unjust to Sri
Lanka.

My recent contribution to Lessons in Human
Values included the following ‘Some students learn at the surface level and
therefore need the repetitive
learning path. This does
not register deeply but in some environments this
would produce immediate results.

When the
lesson is taken in with the Guru, such knowledge gets registered more
deeply. This facilitates opportunities at high levels.

Beyond
this, when the student learns with deep focus and therefore without
calculating returns – benefits nor opportunities – the learning energy of
the student merges with the teaching energy of the Guru to render Universal
power. This is why Lord Krishna said to do our duty without expecting benefits.‘

India is
naturally the Guru for Sri Lankan Tamil leaders in relation to Devolution on
cultural basis. Sinhalese leaders who do not consider
Indian leaders as their gurus, would tend to surface-read the 13thAmendment. Likewise those who pay
lip-service to the Constitution. Tamil leaders who go through Tamil Nadu are
likely to read the 13thAmendment
more deeply due to the common culture. But whether they would practice the 13thAmendment is another question. Like
the wayRacial Discrimination
Act 1975is a passive
showpiece for Australian Government, the
13thAmendment is
likely to be a showpiece for Sri Lanka. Neither is a tool through which the
government connects to reality, leave alone the citizen.

Ultimately,
whatever we do – be it good or bad – we do for ourselves and those who are a
part of ourselves. That is the law of karma which never fails.

The citizen’s
alternative to Devolution is Equal Opportunity Laws. Citizen’s power is
individual’s power and individual is the smallest unit to which power could be devolved. That would preserve
the real value of loss and pain of the ethnic war – at the individual and small
group level. Such preserved value is the Lesson we have Learnt from the
war. If we are capable of
learning at our individual level
– we do not need group power. If it happens – it is a bonus. The more self
governing we are as individuals – the greater the real power of governance to
the side that includes us. Given
that majority of us do not have the power to directly influence Governments –
we are better off working on improving our self governing skills at individual
and small group levels. When someone is in need of support – we would then be
free to add ourselves to that side. We do not need anyone’s permission nor any
law to do this. Truth alone is enough. Others may
not even know it but it will happen to deliver just results for all genuine
participants. The rest is maya/delusion which
causes stress.

During a
recent meeting, many well educated Sri Lankans of Sinhalese origin also expressed
their preference for small-group level of governance. That is the level at
which we are able to complete the real experience. Like with the Australian
officers - the rest is for grades/jobs –
largely due to attachment to benefits -
and should not come by fooling the
naïve citizen. The genuine
citizen does not need an external government. A consolidated pool of such
genuine citizens is the real government of that group.

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